A person whom I know very well, is stationed in Asia "will not give exact local to preserve privacy" His wife . has taken their 8 month old infant with her off base to a local grocery, the infant vomited fell limp and began having seizures. Mother as is to be expected lost it and in the confusion Locals Figured out it was a medical emergency and phoned I assume 911?. Their Police, Fire brigade and EMS responded. However their was a language barrier with the emergency personal as the mother spoke basic "native Asian language" luckily a by stander spoke English and was able to relay the information to EMS. This is the question, one Having a language barrier what would you do in the case of the hysterical mother and inability to get information. Secondly how would you treat the seizure. Side note it was later found the seizure was caused by a viral infection of the brain, infant is currently in a medically induced coma.
Infant seizure ALS PROVIDERS
- Thread starter fishyfish
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SpecialK
Forum Captain
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Auckland is amongst the most ethnically diverse cities in the world. Many patients speak another language, usually Hindi, Mandarin (or another Asian language), Maori or another Pasifika language. Somebody in the family unit usually speaks English. There is a multi-lingual phrase book being developed (I've used the very old one as well) and Google Translate is great. We can also use LanguageLine and Control use it too.
If I could figure out the language, then I have options. I know a little of one language and I could probably figure out 3-6 others by listening and then try to do my best from there. Even if I could communicate with the mom though, I will treat symptoms. It doesn't sound like they knew about this condition or that there were any other known conditions, so I am assuming it was a what you see is what you get situation. I would just do my own digging from there since there could be a few different causes of the seizure.
Whatever benzo I have available.
Whatever benzo I have available.
NPO
Forum Deputy Chief
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Well, luckily seizure is a pretty obvious thing, so if the kid was still seizing, I wouldn't need to talk to the mom.
Obviously obtaining info from mom would be benifitial, but that doesn't mean I can't also treat what I see.
I just had this (similar call) a week or so ago. Hispanic mother called 911, unknown medical aid. We arrived, none of the 3 of us on the ambulance or 4 firefighters spoke Spanish. The boy was about 8 years old, and I found him on the floor of their house. He wasn't moving and his gaze was fixed to the right and he had epileptic nystagmus. He got 4mg of Versed IV and focal seizures in his hands stopped and his eyes returned to normal. I later extracted info from mom that ruled out trauma or fever, meningitis, etc. Child was discharged 4 hours later with new onset epilepsy.
Obviously obtaining info from mom would be benifitial, but that doesn't mean I can't also treat what I see.
I just had this (similar call) a week or so ago. Hispanic mother called 911, unknown medical aid. We arrived, none of the 3 of us on the ambulance or 4 firefighters spoke Spanish. The boy was about 8 years old, and I found him on the floor of their house. He wasn't moving and his gaze was fixed to the right and he had epileptic nystagmus. He got 4mg of Versed IV and focal seizures in his hands stopped and his eyes returned to normal. I later extracted info from mom that ruled out trauma or fever, meningitis, etc. Child was discharged 4 hours later with new onset epilepsy.
Underoath87
Forum Asst. Chief
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Is the patient seizing? If yes, give benzos and transport.
If not, find a translator and ask mom whether its cool that we take them to the hospital.
If not, find a translator and ask mom whether its cool that we take them to the hospital.